Industry & Teaching Experience

With decades of combined industry experience, and years of
teaching experience at many of the top Bay Area coding bootcamps,
you're in good hands. We've guided hundreds of students on
their coding journey from little or no coding knowledge to becoming
full stack developers.

We've worked for some of the top names in tech, including...

Instructional Team

Michael has been developing websites since he was in high
school, and went on to graduate from UW-Madison with a B.S.
with Honors in Computer Science. He worked at both top Silicon
Valley companies and smaller start-ups, before diving
head-first into his passion for teaching. He taught full-stack
bootcamps programs for adults for years at one of the most
prominent Bay Area bootcamps, before launching Kickstart
Coding, with the goal of making coding education accessible to
everyone.

Mark is a software developer, designer, and teacher, and
thinks data visualizations are really, really cool and that
programming tools and communities should be friendly, helpful,
and try to meet people where they are. In his work, Mark tries
to write decent code, support diversity and social justice in
tech, and energetically frown at people who use the word
"disruption" more than they use the word "ethical”. Outside of
work, he enjoys hiking, attempt to commit to musical
instruments, feel feelings about things, and silently guess who
uses Tumblr based on their word and spelling choices.

Maddy

Intake TA

Maddy is a recent coding bootcamp graduate and web
developer. She graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in
Genetics, and also has a background in nonprofit work. Having
created a career transition into tech for herself, she is
passionate about teaching others and facilitating their growth
in tech. When she's not teaching, she can be found contributing
to open source projects, arranging tech talks on machine
learning, or playing roller derby.

What students say about us

Software Engineer @ OpenGov

“I was able to get hired within three weeks of graduating
from Michael's class.”

“The decision to switch careers can be difficult and daunting.
Michael's mastery of all things computer science and his genuine
care for my success resulted in a full time front end
engineer position at the company of my dreams. I’m a
software engineer by trade but not by nature. Michael was able to
give someone with no technical experience the tools to ship
software with teammates who have bachelors—even masters—degrees in
computer science. Michael's personality made every class as
entertaining as it was informative. I was able to get hired within
three weeks of graduating from Michael's class and I owe that to
his tutelage.”

Junior Frontend Developer @ GeoEx

“I couldn't have afforded the time or money to take a traditional
bootcamp. I came out the other end as a web developer – with a new job.”

“I come from a zero-tech background. I wanted to build an app. Michael
said he could teach me that, so I signed up.
I'm not going to lie. This bootcamp was hard. For a tech newbie with a
full-time job and family, the time commitment is intense. I was often
frustrated. I cried, a lot. I secretly thought that I shouldn't have
been admitted to the course.
But I came out the other end as a web developer – with a new job. That
hadn't even been my goal, and you couldn't find anybody more surprised
than me!
I couldn't have afforded the time or money to take a traditional
bootcamp. I never would have tried. Kickstart Coding made it
possible for me to learn these skills, and it's no exaggeration to say
that it changed the trajectory of my career, and possibly my
life. Michael is an excellent and engaging teacher, as are
TA's Maddy and Mark, and I owe them a debt of gratitude.
5 stars for Kickstart – well worth your money.”

Software Engineer @ Homeroom

“Michael's instruction has done wonders for my career thus
far.”

“There are tons of programs out there that promise to make you
into a software engineer, but Michael's is different: he has
an expert grasp of software development and a talent for making
convoluted, deep topics accessible. He knows what you don't know and
how to help you grasp it. Best of all, he focuses on the
fundamentals–the core concepts of the technologies he introduces–and
that has done wonders for my career thus far. Thanks to Michael's
instruction, I was able to hit the ground running in a team with
decades of development experience.”

Sales Engineer @ Okta

“I walked into Kickstart Coding to brush up on my skills. I
left with a new career.”

“Now that I am on the other side, have landed a job, and am now
working with developers I can honestly say that Kickstart is a quality
program. They take a modern approach to teaching and teach
what's current in an adapting industry (also what stacks companies are
hiring for!).
Michael covered CS concepts in an incredibly accessible way for a
diverse classroom with different levels of experience. The course
material was the perfect balance of providing introductory guidance and
challenge. Group projects exposed us to the challenges of working in a
development team and we continued to build on new iterations of our
personal projects.
It's a privilege to have been a part of such a fantastic community, and
I'm excited to see it grow. Amazing how such a short time can
change your life, if you're considering taking the plunge, DO
IT!”

Software Engineer in Test @ Dolby Labs

“I came out confident I had the necessary skills to get a job as a
Software Engineer.”

“Not only was my cohort with Michael fun and challenging, but I came out
confident that I had the necessary skills to get a job as a Software
Engineer. Their passion for programming is contagious and makes the
students excited to learn. The teaching style is captivating, promotes
critical thinking, and allows the students to arrive at their own
solutions. The material is innovative and applicable to the modern
software industry. Thanks to their instruction, I was able to
pivot my career!”

Michelle Dai San Francisco

Front-end Software Engineer

Michelle Dai

San Francisco

Front-end Software Engineer

“He taught me to write my first lines of code, explained in details how
things work, and was always there if I have any questions.”

“Michael is an extremely driven and talented instructor. His ability to
connect with students and his talent at teaching simple concepts, as
well as more advanced topics, are both truly superior. He taught me to
write my first lines of code, explained in detail how things worked,
and was always there if I had any questions. I highly recommend
Michael's Kickstart Coding classes, as his instruction helped me so
much as I was starting my web development career!”